Asus ProArt PA27JCV

It's hard not to look at the Asus ProArt PA27JCV and see it as a direct challenge to Apple's Studio Display. I say this mainly because this particular panel has the relatively rare 5K resolution that was popularised by LG's UltraFine display, which was tailor-made for Apple products (and was officially sold through Apple itself for a while) .

But in true Asus fashion, you can get the monitor we're about to review here for around £650, compared to a Studio Display price tag of a good £1,500. There are undoubtedly aspects of the overall user experience where Apple's offering is stronger - speakers and webcam being just two of them. But if you're looking for a relatively inexpensive monitor designed specifically for creative work and don't want to pay the premium Apple charges, it's hard to complain.

Okay, so a 27-inch IPS panel in 5120x2880, i.e. 5K, which gives a ppi of 218. It covers 99% DCI-P3, which is quite respectable for an IPS panel, and, like so many other Asus monitors, has a Calman verification of a Delta-E deviation of less than 2, which we confirmed ourselves with test equipment that confirmed 1.7, so not bad at all. In addition, there is HDR10 support via a DisplayHDR 500 certification, which is certainly noticeable. You don't get the higher refresh rate, and it would have been nice when a good creator laptop display manages the same at 120Hz, but oh well.

Of course, you also know that the panel itself is only part of the overall experience. There is 96W PD through USB-C, which means it can act as a charger for a connected MacBook Pro or similar, and Auto KVM means it's super easy to switch between two connected devices.

However, I would say that if you look at Apple's Studio Display, for example, and also the new LG UltraFine monitors (seriously, the new Evo 32U990A is gorgeous), the PA27JCV is not only subtle, it also tends to be boring. Yes, PC manufacturers can always hide behind Apple-critical consumers and argue that it's functionality, not aesthetics, that counts. That is also correct, to some extent, but at the same time, these ProArt monitors have barely evolved in the last 5-7 years, and it may be time to take a look at LG's new series, or even Huawei's beautiful MateView display, and discover that you can easily appeal to a more modern home or workplace without compromising on what the monitor actually needs to be able to do. As it stands, this rather expensive monitor could easily be placed on a guest computer at your local library, which is a bit of a shame.

That said, I did not experience what is pointed out in other reviews, namely rather terrible local dimming between the screen's divided zones. Yes, it is an IPS panel, so there is a noticeable halo effect around bright objects on dark backgrounds, and if you edit in dark software suites such as Photoshop, it's more of a dark grey than the clear effect you get when there is either an abundance of dimming zones or individual pixels can turn off completely.

That said, I think colour chemistry and calibration will have a much greater impact on the intended customer group, and here Asus can rely on its well-established process. I like the PA27JCV, but at the same time I think these panels and these processes deserve a little more persistence on the physical design front. And we do.